Countdown to kickoff: The No. 14 team in the Mercury News preseason rankings is …

The 14th-ranked team has a rich history in Santa Clara County but is coming off a rough season by its standards — fourth in its league, no Open Division playoffs, first-round playoff loss.

And that team is …

Oak Grove Eagles

Coach: Jay Braun

Record: 5-6, 4-3 BVAL Mount Hamilton Division

CCS playoffs: Lost to Menlo-Atherton 21-7 in Division II first round

Outlook: The way Braun sees it, the team’s drop last season was a one-year hiccup as he points to several playmakers and promotions from a champion junior varsity team to lead the program back to the top of the Mount Hamilton Division. One opposing coach certainly is not taking the Eagles lightly, saying the next time he overlooks Oak Grove will be the first. The area won’t have to wait long to find out if the Eagles are back. Oak Grove opens the season at St. Francis, then returns home to play Valley Christian. Braun noted that his team lacked “the X factor” last season but “this year we have a lot of our firepower back.” Braun believes his team should get back on track “because our J.V. was 9-1 last year, and we (the varsity) won the league the last three out of four years. We might surprise some people, but I don’t think we’ll be surprised. I feel good about our team.” Players to watch include LB/RB Haoa Ikaika Furtado, OL/DL Deshawn Hodge and DB Tajhil Johnson.

I’m starting to think there might be a coaching problem at OG. Ed Buller picked Jay Braun from Yerba Buena (at the bottom of the entire State’s high school football programs). I think OG would have been better served if they had replaced Buller the way that Los Gatos went about replacing Butch Cottolico. These are both public schools that are the ONLY schools that are able to compete with the WCL on a year in and year out basis. More care should have been taken when selecting a successor to Buller and possibly some thought given to the track record and success level of the replacement. Any thoughts?

Stan Wang

i think you are right on. if he doesn’t rebound this year he should be shown the door. there is no shortage of OG grads that would like to take over, and would understand the tradition better than Braun.

football fan

I have followed OG football since, well a long time. I think Buller might have made big mistake with Braun. I heard some of the players quit the team last year and that’s why they ended so poorly. I don’t live in the area and depend on the MN to get info on OG…Rick Huck was on Buller’s staff and played for Stearns/Buller in the 80′s. He’s right there for the asking. Also, Norm Brown played at the same time and has a proven track record over at Independence and is available. HS football is fragile and once the success is interrupted, it’s hard to get it back!